Shelters Face Lack Of Staffing

August 16, 1987|By SALLY DENEEN, Staff Writer

The deadliest weeks of hurricane season are plodding nearer, and the shelters designed to protect Palm Beach County residents still have too few volunteers -- especially in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.

``We really have a great need,`` said Dick Turner, American Red Cross spokesman.

``You can have a nice fancy shelter that houses 1,500 people, but if we don`t have the people to man it, we`re going to have a very unfortunate situation.``

A free three-hour training class to teach residents how to be American Red Cross shelter volunteers is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Red Cross at 500 E. Spanish River Blvd., Boca Raton.

At least 60 helpers are needed for 14 south county shelters, including shelters in family communities such as Loggers` Run west of Boca Raton, Turner said.

When a hurricane slams the county, volunteers help frightened residents turning to the county`s 51 shelters, Turner said.

They do simple tasks.

They serve food. They provide recreation. A few provide some first aid. Volunteers also do other general duties.

Late August and September is the most threatening time for hurricanes, South Florida history shows.

The most recent storm was David, a weak hurricane that came ashore at West Palm Beach from in September 1979. The deadliest storm, an unnamed hurricane, ravaged Lake Okeechobee from Sept. 6 to 20, 1928. It forced a wall of water to spill over the south rim of the lake and kill 1,836 people.

Eleven of 12 hurricanes recorded since 1926 hit South Florida in August or September.

The need for shelter volunteers is like the threat of a hurricane hitting South Florida in summer: Both are constant occurrences.

Some volunteers move. Some drop out when they grow too old to volunteer. Some just quit, said Larry Parker, Red Cross coordinator for emergency services in the south county area.

``Should I have a hurricane tomorrow, would these places be staffed? Of course they would,`` Parker said of shelters.

But workers grabbed at the last minute would not be as trained as volunteers or would be disaster workers taken away from more important duties, such as handling fires or unexpected problems not planned for, Parker said.

About 400 volunteers work in Red Cross shelters that serve 35,000 or 36,000 people -- about 5 percent of county residents, Turner said.